Beware the fake DMV text! iPhone scam tricks victims with this sneaky move

Beware! There's a new scam targeting iPhone owners with fake DMV texts all over the U.S. 

There's a new scam text wave that fakes to be coming from government authorities. Usually, the scammers pretend to be sending a message from a Department of Vehicles, with one recent example sent from a "Tennessee Department of Vehicles," which warns about an "overdue" traffic ticket. The scam threatens legal action and even licenses suspension if a payment isn't made. 

The messages usually include a link to a fake government payment site and also urge victims to reply with the letter "Y" to activate the link. You shouldn't do that. To protect you, Apple deactivates links when they are sent to you from an unknown sender. If you reply to the message, your iPhone will consider the sender "known" and make the link tappable. 


The message tries to appear legitimate, but there are clear red flags. For one, the link "tn.gov-hjpp.life/pay" is not legitimate. This is a spoofed domain that's not related to any official government service. 

Also, another red flag is that the message comes from a foreign phone number. This number usually starts with the country code +63, which corresponds to the Philippines. 

This scammy tactic is very popular at the moment. A lot of people are receiving fake messages about highway tolls and tickets. There are, reportedly, more than 60,000 registered fake domains aimed to trick people into giving up credit card information. 

Right now, the FBI has reportedly received over 2,000 complaints in a single month, related to fake unpaid toll messages. There are federal warnings to avoid clicking any links in texts like these. 

Usually, the "fine" is set to a low amount, probably not to raise suspicions. And also, to make it easier to pay without verification. But as you may imagine, their goal is to steal your credit card information and reuse it later, potentially taking a large amount of money out of your account!  

These scammers have even learned to bypass Apple's security features in Messages by making you send "Y", thus adding the sender to the "known senders" in your iPhone and activating the link. 

How to spot these scams and protect yourself 

Basically, if you receive a suspicious message such as the one described above, the best action is not to do anything. Definitely no clicking on any links or responding. The best action is to block the sender and report the message. To do that, tap "Report Junk" directly in the Messages app and this will flag the scam. 

It's completely normal to feel it may be legitimate, though. Nowadays, I suspect any message to be fraudulent even if they are legitimate. But keep in mind, that banks are very unlikely to request your payment information in a text, and so are government agencies! If you think something may be legitimate, go directly to an official government source, but never trust links in such a message. 

These scams also have things in common. They tend to make things up, like a "Department of Vehicles" and have domain names that look official but upon a closer look, they contain something strange or suspicious within them. Like, weird suffixes like ".life" can be added, or a random hyphen when there isn't one. 

Also, other red flags include messages from foreign numbers, vague legal threads, or demands for immediate payment in order to avoid some negative consequences. They use this tactic to scare you into acting fast so you won't notice the shadiness of the entire thing. If you calmly inspect the message without reacting to the sense of urgency they're trying to make you feel, you'll be able to spot the weird things in it. 

So, never act quickly with such messages, always double-check, and don't give your personal information, payment information, or anything really in texts to unknown senders.